80 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and of a pitchy black color. The jaws, though short, are very 

 thick and strong ; the antennae are stout and saw-toothed in the 

 male, and more slender in the other sex ; the thorax is short and 

 wide, and armed on the lateral edges with three teeth ; the wing- 

 covers have three slightly elevated lines on each of them, and are 

 rough with a multitude of large punctures, which run together 

 irregularly. It measures from one inch and one eighth, to one 

 inch and three quarters in length ; the females being always much 

 larger than the males. The grubs of this beetle, when fully 

 grown, are as thick as a man's thumb. They live in the trunks 

 and roots of the balm of gilead, Lombardy poplar, and probably 

 in those of other kinds of poplar also. The beetles may fre- 

 quently be seen upon, or flying round the trunks of these trees in 

 the month of July, even in the daytime, though the other kinds of 

 Prionus generally fly only by night. 



The one-colored Prionus, Prionus unicolor* of Drury, inhabits 

 pine-trees. Its body is long, narrow, and flattened, of a light bay- 

 brown color, with the head and antenna; darker. The thorax is 

 very short, and armed on each side with three sharp teeth ; the 

 wing-covers are nearly of equal breadth throughout, and have 

 three slightly elevated ribs on each of them. This beetle meas- 

 ures from one inch and one quarter, to one inch and a half in 

 length, and about three or four tenths of an inch in breadth. It 

 flies by night, and frequently enters houses in the evening, from 

 the middle of July to September. 



The second family of the Capricorn-beetles may be allowed to 

 retain the scientific name, Cerambycidte, of the tribe to which it 

 belongs. The Cerambycians have not the very prominent jaws of 

 the Prionians ; their eyes are always kidney-shaped or notched 

 for the reception of the first joint of the antennae, which are not 

 saw-toothed, but generally slender and tapering, sometimes of 

 moderate length, sometimes excessively long, especially in the 

 males ; the thorax is longer and more convex than in the preced- 

 ing family, not thin-edged, but often rounded at the sides. 



Some of these beetles, distinguished by their narrow wing- 

 covers, which are notched or armed with two little thorns at the 



P. cijlindricus of Fabricius. 



